The Magee (note spelling) Museum shut down following dual catastrophes. The June 1972 flood devastated the site, and in October, the museum's owner died. The equipment was all rescued, some pieces more successfully than others. In subsequent years, the property has been flooded at least three times.

Both the Narragansett Pier RR and the Graham County RR (no Central that I know of) were freight railroads first and tourist railways second. When the freight business disappeared, so did they. Most salvable equipment from both was saved.

Heres another story ............................

In 1985 I drove down there in a brand new chevy pickup, to see that railroad. The owner of the "Bemis Lumber Co." offered me the "1925" for $8500 "Loaded on any trailer". I had just started being an "owner opperator" and money was a little tight, but what a buy she would have been............
Least she's in good hands now.

That's pretty interesting, since the Bemis Lumber Co. no longer owned the railroad or the locomotive at that time. In fact, it didn't even own the sawmill, which was owned by Hammermill Hardwoods by then.

I still see a difference among types of problems. To continue the flight analogy, let's say you're flying a large passenger plane over the Atlantic. I would assume the most drastic emergency action you can take is to ditch in the ocean. Now consider the following emergencies:
--all engines are on fire
--passenger has a major medical issue
--the microwave in the first-class galley doesn't work
--there's a thunderstorm in your direct path to your planned landing site

All of the issues need attention, but only in the first one would ditching be justified because it carries serious expense and risk in a last chance to save lives. If you ditch when the passenger is sick, no one is going to be helped. If you ditch for the broken microwave, it won't be fixed (it won't be a problem any more, but it won't be fixed.) If you ditch for the thunderstorm instead of calling for a route around it, you aren't going to get any medals. Recognize there's a problem, understand what the problem is, act to fix or prevent it--but don't assign pew padding color the same importance as the roof falling in.

The most frequent problem I've seen with any kind of collection is the collector's failure to plan for his/her death or retirement. By the same token, because so many rail-related things require a powerful personality to get them going in the first place, many groups can't seem to get the idea that their key people won't always be there. Cross-training will help, so that if something happens unexpectedly there'll be some degree of expertise to carry on. However, screasming "Cancel everything! Everyone has to train on this on Saturday!" won't help and may run people off. "We need to think about getting more people up to speed on using the emergency generator, so we're putting that on next month's training schedule" works better.

I'm kinda curious as to who did own it then, the man I talked to , in person, was the head man at the plant.......

everything I can find, said they owned it till the railroad was tore up in 1987...

http://search.reel-scout.com/location_d ... 4-10000568


http://www.wcu.edu/WebFiles/PDFs/mar_99.pdf

here is one of the forums own posts about it all............
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5791


In fact they (Bemis Lumber Company) still had a Federal Tax Lien (From 1989), filed w/the state of NC , in 1990..........
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/taxlie ... gId=331316

Only can tell you what I Know......................

The Graham County was sold by the lumber company to an industrial development agency in 1980, and they received federal funds to upgrade the track. The line reopened in mid-1981, which you may recall was right at the beginning of a serious recession, and the promised traffic never materialized. I was general manager there in 1981-1982, and the line shut down in 1983 after I left when the company the county had hired to operate it shut it down. Engine 1925 was owned by Thomas Ebright, who had reopened the railroad in 1974, and it was he who donated it to the museum at Spencer after its sale to Cass Scenic Railroad fell through.

North Carolina Transportation History Corporation PURCHASED 1925........or at least the remaining interest of the individual who had possession. I'm not sure what happened to Tom Ebright's interest. It may have been donated, and the purchased interest some sort of lein. I was organizing disassembly amd moving, not financial.

I was in the room when the check changed hands. The seller was an individual who had moved her onto his equipment yard after acquiring her in some manner during the process of disposal of the assets left on the railroad. He ran a heavy equipment and trucking outfit and also loaded and delivered the hulk of 1925 to Spencer......the rest of us took home the jewelry, small bits and pieces in our personal vehicles. Tony Marsico's Honda station wagon barely cleared the ground, all the way from Robbinsville to Spencer.

The hulk of 1926 was also in the equipment yard nearby.

dave

Clearly... you do not listen to the Suze Orman show :)

Mind you, that's only the tip of the iceberg - those willing to embarrass themselves on national TV and whose problems aren't just plain tragic (as that doesn't make good TV). The failure you see at railroad museums echoes the failure you see in people's financial lives.

The iceberg is ego. It's as simple as that.

Same basic origin: people lack the requisite skills but still want to feel good.

Everyone agrees that success feels good. But some believe in a "yin/yang" relationship there: if success must feel good, therefore failure must feel bad. This feeling must be avoided ANY WAY POSSIBLE, and self-delusion is one way it can be avoided for sure.

Scientists, on the other hand, think failure is essential to guide them to success. They are comfortable with the Scientific Method, which is "guess, experiment, FAIL, study failure, repeat".

The egotist is resistant to change, because he takes ANY change as an insult against what was done before. The scientist feels no insult whatsoever, and fails to understand why the egotist does.


It really depends on how you say it. I read a lot of railway museum newsletters, and the amount of whining I read about lack of volunteers, could peel paint. Done the usual way, it is completely unprofessional and basically amounts to browbeating the volunteers for their not being more of them. (grammar intended.) Often coupled with "blatantly overstated" declarations of success. To rally people to support a struggling museum, there must be a no-baloney "light at the end of the tunnel" that people can plainly see.

On the latter, I disagree. In this day and age, a black-hat can inadvertently help you a lot - citizen outrage is a very powerful force. This effect can even be induced: a false threat can rally supporters, such as the Troy Michigan "Close the library, burn the books" campaign.


Only some properties are prone to flooding. Don't locate rail museums on properties that are. Simple as that.


Well I believe "declaring an emergency" is largely about clearing the radio waves and/or other traffic that might compete for key resources like runways. However, yes, the airline analogy works extremely well, because unlike the egotists, aviation guys make fearless, searching study of the real factors. Everyone who operates trains should be familiar with the case of Flight 3701, for instance, and also, Flight 232. Not to mention the Fairchild B-52 crash. These things MATTER to your train crews, and should be taught. You won't find such lessons in railroading, because they aren't discussed.

duh. The point is, a fatal problem needs to be acknowledged early, and a solution found early.

In an ideal world, full of unemotional clairvoyants with unlimited knowledge and resources.


Clearly... you do not listen to the Suze Orman show :)

Nor Bob Brinker or the dude that tells everybody to may off their mortgage and forgo the potential interest deduction, except for amusement.

There have been a few instances of groups going public with a funding "emergency", one recently being the Flying Yankee Restoration Group which announced in their newsletter that they ran out of funds for weatherizing the train (in preparation for the eventual removal of the tent) and the Hobo Railroad management pitched in to complete the work for them. I haven't heard of any new inflow of donations developing as a result of that announcement, and I am not aware of any further work being done on the train since then. That was about a year ago, reference the June 2011 newsletter.

PC